


Alphabet City Alphabet

by tomatopudding



Category: Rent
Genre: F/F, F/M, Friendship, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-09
Updated: 2009-07-09
Packaged: 2017-10-10 06:51:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 4,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/96830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatopudding/pseuds/tomatopudding
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look into our favourite Bohemians' lives. There will be a ficlet for each letter of the alphabet. Hopefully, I'll be able to post one wach day until I'm finished. Canon pairings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A is for AZT

**A is for AZT**

Take your AZT.

He was sick and tired of giving reminders.

When the beeper went off he would cringe.

The beeping was silenced, but no move

was made by the other.

Sigh

Of course.

The words are on the tip of his tongue.

He didn't want to say them, but they

slipped out

Take your AZT


	2. B is for Blood

**B is for Blood**

It was everywhere

It was red and it was everywhere

An anguished cry

A wet thud of knees

Dropping into a shallow puddle

It was everywhere

On the floor

On her hands

On the note

We've got AIDS

Prints littering the walls

On the knife still clutched in

Cold

Dead

Fingers

It was everywhere

More cries

Red covering the hands of another

Will all of Neptune's oceans wash this blood clean from my hands?

No

It was everywhere

It was red and it was everywhere


	3. C is for Camera

**C is for Camera**

'Close on Roger, who dumped that Callie girl and is now back on the market. Come and get him ladies!'

Roger, sitting in the couch with his Fender, laughed loudly as Mark came close to shove the camcorder into his face.

'Don't encourage him,' Collins called from his seat on the taped-up armchair. Mark turned his camcorder on the anarchist now.

'Nuh uh, boy,' Collins said, raising a threatening finger, 'You turn that thing on me and I'll snap it in half!'

Mark gasped and clutched the camcorder to his chest.

'Don't you dare lay a finger on Cammy!' the young man exclaimed. Realizing what he had just said, Mark blushed.

'Cammy?' Roger asked, obviously straining to hold in his amusement.

He and Collins looked at each other for a moment then burst out in raucous laughter. Collins had slid out of the chair onto the floor and Roger clutched his guitar, wiping away tears of mirth. Mark stood with the camera in his arms, fuming,

'Don't think for a moment that I can't hear you talk to Freddie Fender!' he countered. Roger's laughter stopped immediately.

'You bastard!'

Collins' laughter intensified as Roger chased his best friend through the loft, guitar and camcorder forgotten on the couch.


	4. D is for Drunk

**D is for Drunk**

Mark tipped back the Styrofoam cup, letting the last bit of Stoli roll down his throat. He let the cup slip from his fingertips and dropped backwards, falling against something solid. Correction, someone. The person grunted when the back of Mark's head hit his chest.

'Rog?' the filmmaker slurred. Another grunt was the response.

'Mkay,' Mark mumbled, watching Mimi and Angel dance around the loft. Collins was sitting cross-legged on the floor, joint between his lips, unfocused eyes trained on the dancing Angel. Joanne and Maureen were cuddled on the couch, giggling wildly. Mark surveyed the scene before him, eyes drooping and sleepy. Suddenly, the support that was Roger disappeared as the guitarist flopped backwards. Mark gave a small yelp and followed, his head landing on Roger's stomach.

Mark fell asleep to the sounds of drunken giggling and the feel of calloused fingers combing clumsily through his hair.


	5. E is for Eyes

**E is for Eyes**

One of Mark's favorite pastimes was observing other people. He especially enjoyed observing eyes. People's eyes would change depending on their mood and, even then, no person's eyes were the same. So, over the years, Mark felt that he had mastered the different shades and hues of his roommate's eyes.

When Roger was happy, they were a nice gray-green, not too bright, not too dim.

When Roger was excited, they lit up emerald, shining brightly.

When Roger was sad, they clouded over to a dark olive green.

When Roger was worried, they were more gray than green, darkening if things took a turn for the worse.

But none of these moods were important to Mark. For when Roger looked at him with friendly forest green full of trust and love (brotherly or otherwise), Mark could feel his heart swell.


	6. F is for Fist

**F is for Fist**

At first, he was always the same. He would sit on the couch and shiver. When he wasn't begging for a hit, he would sob, sometimes silently, sometimes cursing her name.

The first time Mark approached, he yelled.

'Don't touch me!'

Mark shied away and left him to his mumbling.

The next time, he yelled again.

'Don't touch me!'

But this time around, Mark ignored him and sat beside the rocker, wrapping arms around the trembling frame. The cries turned to pleas, turned to whimpering, and, finally, to calm silence.

When the first episode reared its ugly head, it was business as usual. Mark approached slowly and placed a hand on Roger's shoulder.

'Don't touch me!'

Mark sat down, as usual, and tried to wrap his arms around his shivering friend.

'I said, don't touch me!'

This was new, but Mark ignored him, trying once again to hug the rocker.

'Don't touch me!'

Mark landed on his back on the floor, glasses snapped in half. He raised a trembling hand to his nose and it came away bloody. Roger, seeing it, whimpered and his eyes got wide, pulling his stained knuckled to his chest. Mark picked himself off the floor. He stopped by the kitchen to tape his glasses together and then disappeared into the bathroom, leaving a frightened Roger curled on the couch.


	7. G is for Graduation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> highschool!fic

**G is for Graduation**

'So tonight, huh?'

'Yeah'"

Two boys, one 17 and one just turned 18, lay side by side in the tall grass. The younger one held a camcorder to his bespeckled eye, filming the small, white clouds floating in the azure sky. The elder had his hands clasped behind his head, eyes shut. The younger flipped the camera to the other boy.

'Close on Roger,' he narrated, 'the rockstar wannabe with the crazy idea that he's going to New York.'

Roger opened his green-gray eyes and trained them into and through the camera to meet the other's.

'It's not crazy, Mark,' Roger insisted, 'As soon as graduation is over, I am out of here.'

Mark lowered the camera and his blue eyes locked with Roger's green-gray.

'What about college?'

Roger shrugged and turned his eyes back to the sky.

'What _about _college?'

'Well,' Mark said, keeping his eyes on Roger's face, 'Don't you wanna go?'

'Nope,' Roger answered promptly.

'Oh,' Mark replied dejectedly, sitting up and hugging his knees to his chest, turning the camera in his hands. Roger sat up.

'What?'

'Nothing, I mean I— it's—nothing,' Mark shook his head.

'Come on,' Roger said, 'You're like a brother to me, you can trust me.'

'I know it's childish I just,' Mark sighed, 'I kinda wished that we'd always be together, you know?'

The two boys sat silently for a few moments, Roger studying Mark.

'Come with me.'

'What?'

'Come with me!' Roger exclaimed. 'Screw college and come with me to New York!'

Mark shook his head.

'You know I can't! It would break my parents' hearts.'

Roger flipped around and kneeled in front of Mark, placing his hands on Mark's knees.

'Roger,' Mark protested weakly.

'Come with me to New York, Mark,' Roger interrupted, 'We'll rent a loft together. Maybe Collins'll come too! Mark, we could make it big!'

'I can't Rog,' Mark whispered, 'I can't base my whole life on something that _could _happen, but might not.'

'Mark,' Roger murmured, 'Come on. You know you want to.'

'I can't.'

Roger let out an angry growl.

'Live a little, man! I mean, my god, you're living the life that your _parents _want, not the one that _you _want!'

Roger locked his gaze on Mark's. The younger boy could almost feel the pleading sincerity those green-gray orbs were projecting. He looked away.

'I—'

'Please come with me.'

'I—I'm sorry, Rog.'

Roger stood up.

'I'll call.'

Mark lifted the camcorder and filmed Roger as he walked away.

'Close on Roger,' Mark narrated quietly, 'the rockstar wannabe who's leaving for New York tonight.'


	8. H is for Heroin

**H is for Heroin**

It was like his mind was enveloped in a hazy cloud.

He floated up and up and up, the weightlessness of space making his limbs feel disconnected, his brain empty, his eyes unfocused.

He remembered small things from those times, a hug here, a voice there.

It could not last forever, though, and soon enough, it began to fade.

Feeling returned to his hands and feet, all the thoughts of life returned, all of the trouble, the pain, the poverty, the cold.

So he did it again and again to have some slim chance of getting away from it all.


	9. I is for Ignore

**I is for Ignore**

An annoyed huff broke through Roger's laughter.

'It's not funny,' Mark pouted.

'Maureen dumped you,' Roger barely managed through his laughter, 'for another woman! Of course it's funny!'

Mark huffed again, plopping cross-legged on the floor and folded his arms across his chest moodily.

'Oh come on, Mark!' Roger said, managing to keep his laughter under control. 'You've got to admit that it's pretty funny.'

'I could have sworn somebody just said something,' Mark announced to the room at large, 'but there's no one here but me.'

Roger rolled his eyes.

'Childish, much?'

'There it goes again!' Mark exclaimed.

'You are so immature,' Roger told him with another shake of his head.

'I think that this place is haunted,' Mark mused thoughtfully.

'I'll be in my room when you're ready to be an adult,' Roger told his roommate before standing and striding out of the common area.


	10. J is for Jew

**J is for Jew**

Mark had always been the only one in his class who didn't celebrate Christmas.

During the month of November of his first-grade year, Mark's father got a new job and the entire family moved to Scarsdale, New York.

So Mark started in a brand new school during the middle of December. Being that he was quite shy, Mark was already pretty much a loner.

When the last few days before the winter holidays rolled around, Mark discovered that his mother had given the teacher a note that forbid him from eating one of the Christmas cookies his fellow students were sure to bring. So as his classmates sat around eating sugar-covered cookies shaped like Santas and Rudolphs and snowmen, Mark sat in the corner with his arms wrapped around his legs, his glasses on the floor beside him and his face buried in his knees, more isolated than ever.

'Hey.'

Mark looked up to see two blurred forms in front of him. He picked up his glasses and jammed them onto his nose to reveal two students. The first boy was blonde with shining green-gray eyes, and the second was a black boy wearing a dark blue beanie who had dark brown, almost black, eyes. Mark knew that they were the two troublemakers in the class. The blonde boy held out a snowman cookie. Mark shook his head.

'I'm not allowed. I'm Jewish.'

'What's a Jewish?' the blonde asked.

'It's a religion, stupid,' the black boy said with an eye roll. The blonde boy shrugged and stuffed the cookie into his mouth.

'I'm Roger, Roger Davis,' he said, 'and this is Tom Collins.'

'Mark Cohen,' Mark told them quietly.

'Well then, Mark Cohen the Jew,' Roger said, seating himself beside Mark, 'You wanna hang with me and Collins over winter holidays?'

Mark smiled.


	11. K is for Kiss

**K is for Kiss**

Roger had had many kissed in his life, he could almost cover the entire alphabet.

Zoë, Trisha, Sara, Rachel, Paula, Nadia, Lauren, Kaylie, Josie, Helen, Gertrude, Erika, Dawna, Candice, Brittany.

April.

He had even shared one with Mark when they had both been high and drunk out of their minds, which he was sure that the filmmaker didn't remember.

But none of these had given him the same feeling, the same spine tingling, head spinning sensation he got when he kissed Mimi. When their lips touched, fireworks exploded inside his head and it was as if nothing else in the world existed.


	12. L is for Lawyer

**L is for Lawyer**

She knew that she really shouldn't be going out clubbing (she was dating Mark, wasn't she?), but it was something to do in order to get away from Roger's argument with Benny about the latter's rich new wife. Besides, Mark was too busy supporting his best friend to pay attention to her.

So out she went to the bar up in Manhattan where Roger's old band, the Well Hungarians, used to play before April had killed herself.

She walked in and strode over to the bar, enjoying the way everyone watched her as she passed in her tight jeans and low-cut shirt.

She settled on one of the barstools and ordered vodka. As she waited for the drink to arrive, she checked out the people on either side of her. On her left was a man with short, spiked black hair sipping a martini. He reminded her too much of Roger in his rockstar days so she turned to the right.

The woman had chocolaty-caramel skin and a mass of tight black ringlets on her head. She could see that the black woman kept glancing at her from the corner of one warm brown eye. She took a sip of her newly arrived vodka and turned to the woman on the right.

'Hi!' she chirped. The black woman turned, a little surprised.

'Hi.'

'Let me buy you a drink.'

Without waiting for an answer, she went to signal the bartender, purposefully leaning forward a little too far, feeling the black woman's eyes trace the line from her collar bone and down to where her breasts curved smoothly in her shirt. The bartender came over and took the black woman's order of a scotch on the rocks.

'I'm Maureen.'

'Joanne,' the black woman replied.

Joanne took a sip of the drink the bartender placed before her.

'So, Joanne,' Maureen said, sipping her own drink, 'What do you do for a living?'

'I'm a lawyer,' Joanne told her.

Maureen ignored the nagging voice in her brain that kept reminding her that she was dating Mark, and leaned her elbows on the bar, pushing her breasts together.

'So, what's it like being a lawyer?'

Joanne's eyes flicked downward. The black woman took a drink, smiled, and began to talk.


	13. M is for Money (or lack thereof)

**M is for Money (or lack thereof)**

'Would you turn that off!'

'Why?'

'It's really annoying, that's why.'

'But I love this song!'

'…'

'What?'

'Kind of ironic, don't you think?'

'I guess.'

'…'

'…'

'Would you stop humming!'

'I don't want to.'

'You're annoying.'

'Yup.'

'Stop grinning at me.'

'I think that the Beatles wrote this song for us.'

'Mmmhmm.'

'Don't sound so skeptical, Markie.'

'Mmmhmm.'

'And don't roll your eyes at me!'

'I'll roll my eyes at whomever I want!'

'…'

'…'

'…'

'…'

'_Give me money. That's what I want!_'

'So sell that damn record player.'

'Blasphemer! This record player is a Davis family heirloom!'

'Is that why you stole it from your parents when you ran away?'

'Shut up.'

'…'

'_Give me money. That's what I want!_'

Sigh 'Don't we all.'


	14. N is for Never

**N is for Never**

He never could have guess

That he could be so lucky

He never could have guessed

That she would belong to him

He never could have guessed

When she found him

Beaten up on the streets

Lip bloodied

Eye blackened

Jacket torn

He never could have guessed

That he would end up

Wrapped in her arms

His woman

His man

His baby

His Angel


	15. O is for Out

**O is for Out**

Whenever they all got together, Mark would feel left out.

It was usually on warm nights that they would all come over to the loft to relax on the fire escape, and Mark would be on the side, a silent observer.

Maureen had Joanne.

Roger had Mimi.

Collins had Angel.

Mark had nobody.

So, as he sat there watching the three couples laughing and joking and cuddling, one thought flitted across the filmmaker's mind.

I'm all alone.


	16. P is for Pale

**P is for Pale**

It was always the worst during the winter, when the sun barely shone, staying hidden behind the gray clouds.

Mark had always been pale, from his strawberry-blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, to his whiter than white skin.

It just so happened that during the winter, without his cheeks a sun-kissed pink, Mark all but disappeared.


	17. Q is for Quiet

**Q is for Quiet**

Roger had a guilty pleasure.

He loved to get up early, when the sky was still dark. He would tiptoe past Mark's room, watching carefully for the squeaky floorboard, sneak onto the fire escape and climb onto the roof. He loved to sit on the edge in only his flannel pants and watch the sun rising above the New York City skyscraper skyline.

During those few magical hours, Roger liked to listen to the complete quiet of the still-sleeping city. A kind of stifling silence that pressed against his ears, muffling the sounds of the slowly awakening inhabitants of the Big Apple.


	18. R is for Rent

**R is for Rent**

It had always been easier to pay before everything had happened, before the year that had changed their lives. Not that he wished none of it had happened, I mean, it had brought Angel and Mimi into their lives, hadn't it? But still, before it had all happened, before Benny had gone to the dark side, as Collins would joke, things were easier.

They had all been living together: Benny, Collins, Mark, Maureen, and Roger, all living a cramped, yet cozy, life in the loft. The few hundred dollars per month didn't seem too much when split between five job working, money earning people.

Then it had all happened.

She had intruded into their world – Muffy – Alison – and had taken Benny away; Roger's band split up and April laid a double whammy on the rockstar in the form of a note and a knife, leaving the singer jobless and depressed; Maureen had moved on to bigger and greater things – and sexual preferences; and Collins had taken and out-of-town job as a way of dealing with a particularly nasty breakup with his boyfriend – ex-boyfriend – Peter.

So this left Mark to handle not only the money situation, but also Roger's very messy and violent withdrawal, all on his own. Sure, he had the checks from Collins that came through every third month to look forward to, but, other than that, the filmmaker was on his own in terms of rent.

Looking back, Mark knew that he should thank God – Christ, Allah, Buddha, whatever – for helping him through. And, although they were all happier in the end, Mark couldn't help but wish that it had happened in a different way.


	19. S is for Sex

**S is for Sex**

A sweaty chest pressed against his

Mouths colliding

Lips working

Tongues twining

Pressure and caressing

Fingers fumbling with

Buttons

Zippers

Breathy moans and rolling groans

Sounds of ecstasy broiling and swirling

High and higher

Sweet nothings and whispered promises of love

Murmured into willing ears

Hearts pounding

Sound increasing

Up and up and up and up

Screams of pleasure ripping from

Experienced throats

As they floated away into the

Pure

Orgasmic

Bliss


	20. T is for Tango

**T is for Tango**

Fifteen-year-old Mark Cohen stared at his mother in shock.

'Dance lessons?' he asked incredulously, the pamphlet still clutched loosely in his fist.

'It'll be fun!' she said, smiling widely.

'Right,' Mark said skeptically.

'Don't take that tone with me, Moshe,' Mrs. Cohen scolded, using Mark's Hebrew name.

'Sorry, mom,' Mark replied. When her back was turned, though, he rolled his eyes.

'I signed you up to take the class with Rabbi Himmelfarb's daughter. What's her name?'

Mark's eyes widened.

'Nanette?'

'Oh yes, that's it.'

Nanette Himmelfarb was the only other Jew in Mark's grade. A short, pudgy girl with long brown hair, green eyes hidden by cokebottle glasses, and bright blue braces, Nanette always wore the floor-length skirts of traditional ultra-orthodox Jewish girls.

'But mom—'

'Don't you "but mom" me, young man. You're going and that's final!'

Mark sighed, knowing that there would be no use arguing.

'What am I learning?' he asked, resigned.

'The tango.'


	21. U is for Umbrella

**U is for Umbrella**

It was a cold, gray, rainy October day in the city. Roger Davis strode down the sidewalk. He was hunched over, hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, bleached-blonde hair sticking to his forehead and neck. His sneakers were soaked through and the wet denim of his jeans was starting to chafe.

He was stopped at a crosswalk when a taxi zoomed by through a nearby puddle, splattering him with muddy rainwater.

'Shit,' he swore loudly. Somebody grabbed his arm and, suddenly, the rain was no longer pounding on his skull. Roger looked up to see a black man in a long raincoat holding a bright red umbrella above them.

'Thanks,' Roger muttered.

The black man smiled.

'No problem. I'm Benjamin Coffin. Benny,' he introduced.

'Roger.'

'Your parents just stop at Roger?' Benny asked jokingly.

'Davis.'

'Well, Roger Davis, I'd like to offer you protection from this pouring rain. Where do you live?'

'Around,' Roger replied with a shrug. Benny studied him for a moment.

'You need a place?'

'Why do you ask?' Roger snapped.

'I share a loft with a couple of other guys. We could use another person to split the rent with.'

Roger thought about it for a moment.

'Sure.'

Benny grinned.

'Great! I share the place with a teacher named Collins and this other guy, Mark; he's a filmmaker and a newbie to out wonderful city. I think you guys'll hit it off.'

The two men began to walk down the street under the protection of Benny's bright red unbrella.


	22. V is for Video

**V is for Video**

pictures flickered on the makeshift screen (a white sheet pinned to the wall) little snapshots of their lives a face here a pose there a hug a kiss a laugh a smile all of them flashing across the sheet giving a glimpse into the past five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes of their lives it documented the best of times the worst of times and the entire spectrum in between it was a record of everything that happened those past months that had changed them all so much when smiles changed to frowns then morphed back again an abbreviated version of the year projected onto a pinned-up white sheet acting as a screen projected up there for all to see


	23. W is for Wander

**W is for Wander**

He spent his days wandering around the city with the camcorder held up to his eye, narrating the world around.

Sometimes he liked to strap it to the handlebars of his bike and ride up and down the streets, capturing the hustle and bustle of everyday New York City life.


	24. X is for X-Ray

**X is for X-Ray**

Those eyes could see right through him, seeming to bury into his very soul. On the days he comes home late, he can feel those eyes on him, scrutinizing and studying him shrewdly.

He would swear that he could feel the disappointment in the pale blue gaze as it took in his hastily pulled down sleeves, uneven gait, and reddened face.

He always felt ashamed at that point, wishing he could go back and erase the events that put the look of sadness, disappointment, and pity held in his best friend's crystal-blue eyes as the filmmaker voiced his thoughts.

'You've been using.'


	25. Y is for Yo-Yo

**Y is for Yo-Yo**

Mark was digging through a box of his old things when he found it. It was made of cheap fluorescent green plastic, covered in stars drawn with fading black sharpie, the string gray and grimy.

The rest of the contents of the cardboard box momentarily forgotten, Mark stood and went to the centre of the attic room, sliding the loop at the end of the string onto his middle finger.

He threw down the yo-yo and winced as it slapped none too softly back into the palm of his hand. Mark tossed it light this time and watched as the fluorescent plastic slid smoothly down and then back up.

He pumped the yo-yo slowly a few times then suddenly flicked his wrist, causing the yo-yo to stop at the lowest point of its path, spinning but not moving in either direction. A sleeper.

It occurred to Mark as he stood there playing with the toy, that Maureen was like a yo-yo. She bounced back and forth between lovers and lifestyles with complete disregard to her effect on the people she touched.

Occasionally, though, Mark thought as he threw a sleeper. She lingered with a person, as she had with him, but, and Mark knew he should have seen it coming, eventually she always snapped back.

The plastic yo-yo slapped into the palm of Mark's hand.


	26. Z is for Zany

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: **This is slightly AUish.

**Z is for Zany**

It was a hot and humid day in the middle of July. It also happened that this particular day was free admission day at the Central Park Zoo.

So they all congregated at the loft, and, talking and laughing, made their way to the nearest subway station. Mark used some of his latest Buzzline paycheck to buy them each one-time use Metro cards.

They were soon back out in the sun and walking into the park.

Maureen was wearing shorts and a tight, low-cut top, for once trading her high heels for flats.

Joanne was wearing a t-shirt and jeans instead of her usual business suit.

Collins was clad in cutoff jeans and purple shirt, trademark beanie on his head.

Angel, who had forced Collins to wear the aforementioned purple shirt, had on her usual flowered skirt and tight, white short sleeved v-neck, her long blonde wig pulled up into a high ponytail.

Mimi's skirt and shirt were black, despite the beating sun.

Roger was wearing his signature plaid shorts (white with red today) and an old Well Hungarians shirt with the sleeves ripped off.

Mark was wearing a pair of Roger's plaid shorts (brown with white) and a light blue t-shirt.

Lastly, there was Mark's new boyfriend, Scotty.

(After getting over the initial shock of his breakup with Maureen, Mark had decided that if she wanted to dive into the world of same-sex relationships, then he, as a bisexual, had every right to as well.)

Scotty was taller that Mark, a Canadian with clean-cut, yet messy, dark-brown hair and sparkling green eyes, was wearing cutoff jeans and a red t-shirt.

And so they walked, Mark filming Mimi and Angel as they raced and chased each other while Collins roared with laughter and Roger grinned widely.

Maureen walked with her eyes closed, soaking up the sun joyously while Joanne led her so that she wouldn't bump into anybody.

Scotty stood a little off to the side of everyone, giggling madly at their craziness.


End file.
